Griffith Appointed BBL Hurricanes Head Coach

The Hobart Hurricanes have appointed Adam Griffith as the new Head Coach of their men’s Big Bash squad heading into BBL|08 this year.

Griffith was the Hurricanes men’s Senior Assistant Coach last season, helping guide the team all the way to the Big Bash Grand Final against the Adelaide Strikers in February.

The decision follows this week’s announcement from South Africa by Gary Kirsten to resign from the club’s top coaching role.

Kirsten outlined his position to Hurricanes members and fans: “I have made a decision for a specific personal reason to resign from my role as Head Coach of the Hobart Hurricanes.”

“It is an unfortunate circumstance as I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the club.

“I want to thank everyone involved on the Hurricanes Program for their support and hard work, and I wish the players well for the upcoming season.

“I have no doubt the team will once again be extremely competitive, and under Adam Griffith and George Bailey they will enjoy strong leadership.

“I look forward to remaining a big Hurricanes supporter and will be watching closely from Cape Town.

“I loved my time in Hobart and explored much of Tasmania on my mountain bike, so thank you for a fantastic experience.”

Adam Griffith is now Head Coach of both the Tasmanian Tigers and Hobart Hurricanes men’s squads, similar to other state-based organisations like Justin Langer was for the Western Warriors and Perth Scorchers, and Andrew McDonald is now for Victoria and the Melbourne Renegades.

“We are obviously disappointed that Gary needed to withdraw from the Hurricanes,” said Cricket Tasmania Chief Executive Nick Cummins.

“Gary did an outstanding job last season taking us to the Grand Final and we were looking forward to going one step further under his leadership in BBL|08.

“We’re working with Gary to see if he can come to Hobart this summer so our fans can give him a proper send off.

“On the positive side, we can now move to integrate our Hurricanes and Tigers Male Programs under one Head Coach and create continuity for players with coaches.

“It is a great opportunity for Adam to build on his successful start with the Tigers.”

The Hobart Hurricanes’ new BBL Head Coach Adam Griffith is looking forward to the dual challenge right alongside those players, plus the Hurricanes’ domestic and international imports.

“It’s a big honour – even if a somewhat surprising one – to now become the BBL Hurricanes Head Coach, and caps off a pretty exciting last 14 months for me since joining the Tigers as their Head Coach in April last year,” he said.

“It was brilliant working with Gary last season and I certainly took a wealth of knowledge away with me from his time at the Hurricanes – like his tactical thinking and coaching drills.

“Now that I’m head coaching the bulk of both male squads year-round in Hobart, we can really grow some effective long-term plans and ‘mix and match’ our training for all T20, Limited Overs and Shield four-day formats.

“We don’t just want to go one better than last season’s BBL final and Sheffield Shield final – we want to be finals bound every year with the Hurricanes and Tigers.”

Adam Griffith and recent highly-respected UK arrival Salliann Briggs are now mirror Male Program and Female Program Head Coaches for their respective Hurricanes and Tigers playing squads and will look to share plans and learnings heading into the 2018/19 Season.